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We made dozens and dozens of sugar cookies, frosted white, for our class that cold winter day. Just before six, moms started filing into our store with kids in tow for a class, “How to Paint Cookies.”

We had four or five cookies for each child to paint. They painted them with food colors and brushes just like with watercolors.

There was one bright little girl, maybe six years old, in a beautiful white coat with nylon shell and a hood with a fringed ruff. Soon she was deeply engaged in painting cookies. And soon, the whole front of her coat was covered in pink and blue and purple–mostly pink.

A couple weeks later, I saw her mom in the store.

“How did that food color work on your daughter’s coat?”

“It came right out.”

Interesting. So that’s another reason to paint with food colors.

You can paint cookies to make wonderful decorations for Christmas or holidays. It’s simple using food colorings. And since they are painted with edible paint, you can eat those creations that you don’t keep.

Here’s How to Paint Cookies

Bake your sugar cookies or other flat, smooth cookies according to the recipe or mix directions. The surface will be porous; you can’t paint directly on it. So you will need to cover the surface with a hard shelled frosting, usually a frosting with meringue powder added to create a smooth, firm surface.

On the frosted surface, bright colors and crisp lines are painted using undiluted liquid food coloring or a barely diluted color gel. If you are using liquids, dip the tip of the paint brush right in the food coloring bottle. If you are using gel colors, mix a little gel with a few drops water to reach the right consistency. Since gels are nine times more concentrated, they work much than the water based colors. Simple water color brushes work well. They’re inexpensive, you can buy them in different widths, and they clean up with hot water.

Banana Pancakes from a Mix

Banana Pancakes

Pancakes are one of my favorite weekend recipes. After a morning of sleeping in and relaxing, they’re the perfect breakfasts to scoop on to the griddle while I spend time with my family. They fill you up, and there are so many creative pancake recipes to try.

Lately—maybe once a week—I’ve been eating banana pancakes for breakfast, whole grain banana pancakes. I’m simply mashing one small banana and mixing it with 3/4 cup of “Ancient Grain” pancake mix. And loving it. I like those ancient grain pancakes anyway. They’re nutty and, with amaranth, quinoa, and teff, they have substance. I thought maybe they would tend to fall apart with all those grains and banana too. It seems that the banana actually helps hold them together. I just mash the banana with a fork in a bowl and then add the mix and water.

Because I mash the banana with a fork, there are little clumps of banana in mix but with all the whole grains, it’s hardly noticeable. If I were adding bananas to say, a buttermilk pancake mix, I might puree the bananas and then mix them.

To get the complete Banana Pancake Recipe from The Prepared Pantry, you can visit our Full Site

Mashed bananas are not the only way to go; slice them instead. To make Banana Pie Pancakes, cook the pancakes, put a layer of Bavarian cream between the layers of pancakes and sliced bananas on the Bavarian cream. Drizzle with some cream or caramel syrup.

So, if you’re looking for a fun twist to put on your pancake recipe, bananas are the way to go! You can do so much with them, and you get to sneak in a yummy fruit too.

We took the childhood classic, a PB&J sandwich, and whipped up a gourmet version. Our French Fried Peanut Butter and Jam French Toast is going to blow your mind.

The concept for stuffed French toast is simple: Make a sandwich with a yummy filling and dip the sandwich in an egg mixture or egg rich batter and cook as you would for other French toasts. The filling needs to be sticky enough that the two slices of bread stick together. Other than that, let your imagination soar.

I love working with dough – twisting, kneading, shaping. I find any type of Artisan Roll really fun to make. I think Kaiser Rolls are especially fun. A Kaiser roll is a lean roll that you shape and then bake in a steamy oven to make it crispy. You can top it with poppy seeds or sesame seeds, whichever you like. They make great rolls for your dinner table during the Holiday Season! Get our recipe and instructions by Visiting Our Full Site.

…. Keep your eye out for our E-Book all about Dinner Rolls coming out in December!

These are our go-to treats for busy days in the store. We like to put stripes of cheesecake filling going one direction and stripes of raspberry pastry filling going the other. People absolutely love them. Visit our blog for recipes and more delicious combinations.

We tried making Chocolate Banana Bread, but it just wasn’t turning out quite like we wanted. The dough was too heavy. Then, this morning I thought, “Why not try the recipe that we liked in a muffin pan?”

It made incredible muffins.The muffins were sweet but not too sweet. I thought they worked just fine, but they were borderline–they could be cupcakes. Click Here for the Recipe.

Apple, Blueberry, Pumpkin, Chocolate Cream… It simply wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without a delicious, fresh-from-the-oven pie. That’s why we’re giving you copies of our newest E-Book, The Perfect Pie. It’s full of tons of our most delicious recipes and tips on creating perfect pies every time. Become the pie expert in your family and make this Holiday Season a memorable one!